A Strange Private Space in a Public Park

How lovely the light is, bouncing off the ceiling in this living room, almost like light in the woods. Yet this surreal private space is placed in what appears to be a public park. Amazingly, it manages to be completely private inside.
The house was commissioned by the Beech Burg Utrecht Landscape Foundation. Dutch architects Sluijmer & Van Leeuwen built this home to be set in the grounds of an estate measuring 100 hectares total, with five houses on the grounds.

The back of the house is blunt and uninviting with its roof curved down to serve as this monolithic blank back wall. But notice how little of the living room you can see into. And there is something perversely intriguing about its uninviting rustic industrial character.

“The biggest challenge was to lie in answering the question of how to build a villa in the middle of protected nature” say architects Sluijmer & Van Leeuwen of the Beech Burg Estate commission. Indeed.

And what a strange sight at night. It looks like a great party house. The lines are wonderful. The lights are inviting. Yet how eerie to be partying in a private house that is actually slam bang in the middle of a public park.